AIBU to be unhappy about this cycling training at school

When the school checked over the bike before hand did they say it was okay?

How tall is your daughter and what size is her bike?

I guess at the end of the day the priority has to be the safety of the children. Riding a bike which is too small sounds like it’s a risk they’re not willing to take. I’m certain they wouldn’t have stopped her taking part unless there was a good reason.

Sounds like the bike is too small. Were they on the playground or local roads? If local roads, there probably isn't much flexibility in what is considered safe or not.

Is this bike ability?? This free training for schools and they take the safety aspects extremely seriously. If they have any concerns that your child may be a risk to themselves or others on main roads then they will not risk it. It’s a shame your child missed out and was upset but better that than hit by a car.
What difference would it have made if school had told you?
If it is bikeability then it is a fantastic service
in my experience.

I'm amazed as the cycling training at our local primary seems to have the children all on bikes with the saddles far too low. Like grasshoppers with wheels.

This happened to a girl in my daughters year, but school or the cycle people had bikes to borrow.

Also, ours don't do it till year 6, so it seems very young to go on roads in your case

As a general rule, the seat should be at the height of the rider's hips.

My guess is that the school were checking the overall condition of the bike rather than how suitable it was for the height of the rider. Your poor DD though.

Really sorry to hear what happened to your DD.

Bikeability is what used to be Cycling Proficiency.

If it is provided by your local council, you could also share your experience with your councillor. Some councils (like mine) don’t provide bikes, but I think others do (which seems fairer as it ought to be a lovely experience all children get to enjoy).

Some councils run cycling courses in the school holidays. Perhaps you could check this out if DD is interested.

When they did this at our primary school, it was for kids aged 11+ and they had bikes to borrow if you didn’t have a bike of your own. (In Ireland they’re at primary until they’re about 13yrs old.)

My son struggled as he has dyspraxia which affects his balance but they were really good with him. He was the only one unable to ride. After 3 sessions with 1:1 support, he managed to ride a short length of the playground and turn and stop:start but he didn’t really take to it so he’s not bothered trying again.

That sounds ridiculously too small to me. Mine moved to a 20 inch frame size at 110cm and a 24 at 125cm

I honestly can't see how she could fit on it so I'm not surprised this happened.

It's sad for her but just remind her there is always next year she shouldn't be riding on her own or on the road now anyway. Seems a bit young for them to be doing it.

If they can't actually ride (e.g. for Reception or Y1) this will be to get them scooting.
@FrostMarten your DD can do bike training elsewhere, life includes minor disappointments.

That is quite small. DD is the same age, 7cm shorter and has been riding a 20 inch for about 8 months.

According to this chart it's fine for her height!

The school won’t gave checked the bike assuming it’s Bikeability doing the training, they would have done it. Have you actually asked school why she couldn’t do it?

Yes, ime a lot of people have their kids on bikes that are technically too large and a bike that is slightly too small is a lot better than a bike slightly too large, for optimum control.

Doesn't particularly matter if the child is a confident cyclist but I think 18 inch wheels should be fine. Frame size can differ between bikes of the same wheel size though, so I'd check the recommendations from the manufacturer.

Regardless, OP, if your child is happy on the bike and has good control of it, she should not have been excluded from the lessons. Totally unnecessary imo.

It does seem small but it depends what the frame size is relative to the wheels. My daughter's not much taller and recently moved to a Frog 62 which is 24 inch wheels from a Pendleton with 20 inch wheels she'd had for 2 or 3 years.

I used to be a primary teacher but I'd have no idea if a bike was the right size for a child or not.

I remember when I did cycling proficiency as a child. My bike (second hand) had a huge list of things wrong with it and I couldn’t take part until my dad worked his way through the list and repaired and tightened everything. My parents and brothers thought it was hilarious and teased me about it for ages. Honestly, don’t over think it. I got over it - I had to as was getting no sympathy 😂